REAL ID: A Constitutional Betrayal Disguised as Security

REAL ID: A Constitutional Betrayal Disguised as Security

By Ronald P. Bouchard Jr.

I. Introduction

There are moments in history when a government, under the guise of protection, quietly crosses a line. The REAL ID Act of 2005 is one such moment, a federal maneuver cloaked in national security rhetoric that reaches deep into the private lives of the People. Sold to the public as a response to the tragic events of September 11th, this Act did not arise from the will of the governed, nor was it deliberated with transparency. It was slipped into a military appropriations bill, buried in legislative sleight of hand, and passed with no proper hearing.

The stated aim? To “secure identity.” But the truth is more troubling: a centralized ID system, federally mandated, linking personal data across state lines, and creating a permission-based framework for basic rights, travel, employment, access to federal buildings. This is not governance by consent. It is not the American way.

Our founders warned us of this. Thomas Paine wrote that “government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.” When identification becomes a condition for movement, and the People must show their papers to board a plane, enter a courtroom, or fulfill daily needs, we are no longer a free nation. We are being managed.

This article is not just a recounting of policy. It is a declaration. REAL ID is repugnant to the principles enshrined in the constitutions of the several states, to the natural law, and to the immutable rights of free men and women. The time has come to expose it for what it is, and reclaim the foundation that was set before us.

Some will say, “It’s too late. We live in a digital age. Everything’s connected. There’s no stopping it.” But that is resignation, not reason. It is cowardice masquerading as pragmatism. The truth is this: we can stop it. We must stop it.

Because the rule of law is not a convenience. It is the bedrock of this Republic. It is what separates a free people from a managed population. And if we abandon the rule of law, if we let convenience, fear, or silence take its place, we are not only forfeiting our own liberty, we are breaking faith with every generation that handed it to us.

We don’t need to ask permission to be free. We need only to remember who we are.

As John Adams warned, we are a nation of laws, not of men. And if we lose that, if we let men, by their will or whim, stand above the law, we are no longer a Republic. We are something far more dangerous.

II. Delegation of Authority and the Limits of Congressional Power

The Constitution of the United States is not a list of suggestions, it’s a charter of limits. Congress does not hold unlimited power to legislate as it pleases. Article I, Section 8 lists specifically what Congress is authorized to do. Everything else, everything, is reserved to the States, or to the People.

So the question is this: Where in Article I, Section 8 is Congress granted authority to regulate identification, or to impose federal standards on state-issued driver’s licenses and ID cards? The answer is simple, it isn’t.

REAL ID was not enacted under any clear constitutional power. It wasn’t passed as a stand-alone bill through open deliberation. It was snuck in, tacked onto a military appropriations bill titled “Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Defense, the Global War on Terror, and Tsunami Relief”, signed into law on May 11, 2005. This is not representative government. This is legislative sleight-of-hand.

REAL ID mandates that states meet federal standards for issuing licenses. But licenses are not federal matters, they are issued under state law. That means this Act coerces states to comply with federal policy, not by law, but by threat: comply, or your residents can’t fly. Comply, or they can’t enter federal buildings. That is not cooperation. That is extortion.

And let’s be clear, when Congress exceeds its enumerated powers, its acts are void. As stated in Marbury v. Madison (1803), “a law repugnant to the Constitution is void.” And under Tucker’s Blackstone, any such act is “an act of usurpation… and treason against the sovereignty of the People.”

REAL ID is not authorized by the Constitution. It was not passed lawfully. It is not grounded in any delegated authority. It is, in every sense, an imposition, a top-down dictate dressed as legislation.

And it must also be said: the states don’t have this authority either.

While the Tenth Amendment reserves powers not delegated to the federal government, it does not grant states the power to violate fundamental rights. No government, federal, state, or local, has lawful authority to convert a natural right into a government-issued privilege.

The right to travel, the right to privacy, the right to be left alone, these are not privileges handed out by the state. They are unalienable. And according to both Vattel’s Law of Nations and the principles enshrined in the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780, governments are established for one reason: to secure the rights of the People, not to ration them out or restrict them.

The moment a state begins to condition basic rights on compliance with identification mandates, biometric databases, or centralized tracking systems, it is no longer acting as a lawful government. It has become a managing authority, operating outside the boundaries of its proper role.

As the Maxims of Law declare: “All political power is inherent in the People by decree of God; thus none can exist except it be derived from them.” If the People never had the right to demand papers from their neighbors to move freely about the land, then no government, federal or state, could ever rightfully claim such power.

REAL ID is not just a federal overreach, it is a betrayal of the very principles that define free society.

III. The Right to Travel and the Legal Shell Game

The right to travel freely is not granted by the government, it exists before the government. It is a right inherent in nature and affirmed by centuries of common law tradition. It belongs to every man and woman as part of their unalienable liberty. That means no license is needed to exercise it, and no identification should be required to move about the land.

Even the courts, corrupted as they may be, have sometimes had to acknowledge this truth:

In Kent v. Dulles (1958), the U.S. Supreme Court stated, “The right to travel is a part of the ‘liberty’ of which the citizen cannot be deprived without due process of law under the Fifth Amendment.”

In Saenz v. Roe (1999), the Court recognized the right to travel between states as a fundamental constitutional right.

Yet despite these acknowledgements, the system has found ways to bury that truth under layers of statutes and permissions. They’ve redefined travel as a privilege when it’s done in a vehicle. They’ve turned the People into commercial actors with contracts, licenses, and obligations, without ever disclosing the nature of that conversion.

REAL ID is simply the next evolution of that fraud. It’s not just about showing ID to fly. It’s about conditioning access to life itself, employment, transportation, healthcare, and more, on participation in a national tracking system.

But here’s the reality: you don’t need court opinions to know that’s wrong. You know it in your bones. Because the rule of law isn’t determined by black robes or gavels. It’s determined by truth. And when a system begins to deny the natural rights of the People, it is not enforcing law, it is enforcing policy. There’s a difference.

And perhaps worst of all, it hires goons to enforce it, people who often don’t have a fifth-grade understanding of the Constitution. They don’t have a clue. All they do is follow orders. That’s not just unlawful, it’s dangerous. A government that relies on the blind obedience of the uninformed is not operating under justice. It’s operating under tyranny.

IV. Knowing Who You Are

REAL ID is sold to the public as a tool for “identifying who you are.” But that’s the ultimate irony. Because if they truly knew who you were, if they truly understood what it means to be one of the People, then they would know that they have no authority to demand such identification in the first place.

You are not a subject. You are not a customer of the state. You are not property to be cataloged, tracked, and scanned.

You are one of the People. A sovereign by birthright. A living man or woman endowed by your Creator with rights that no government may license, condition, or convert.

The real question is not whether they know who you are. The real question is, do you know? Because once you do, once you stand in that truth, everything changes.

A free man does not ask for permission to be free. A free woman does not show her papers to exist. If you are who you say you are, if you walk as one of the sovereign People, then you carry your authority within you, and no agency has the power to question it.

Their demand for ID is not about knowing who you are. It’s about making sure you forget.

V. Immutable Principles: The Maxims of Law

In a world of changing narratives, shifting policies, and ever-growing statutes, there is one standard that remains firm: the maxims of law. These are the distilled truths passed down through generations, rooted in natural law, reason, and divine justice. They do not bend to politics. They do not change with time.

Here are a few that speak directly to the crisis of REAL ID:

• The Common Law is above government.
• That which is against natural right is void in law.
• All political power is inherent in the People by decree of God.
• The Law of God and the Law of Nature are one and the same.
• The created cannot be greater than the Creator.
• The servant is not greater than the master.

These maxims are not optional. They are not theoretical. They are the real Rule of Law, the standard by which all human law must be measured. And by that measure, REAL ID fails utterly.

VI. Real Threats, Right Responses

Every time tyranny rises, it disguises itself in urgency. It tells the people that liberty must wait until the crisis passes. It promises protection, if only we surrender a little more freedom. REAL ID is no different.

What about voter fraud? What about illegal immigration? What about the real threats in the world, terrorism, war, disease? These are fair questions. But the answer is not, and has never been, to sacrifice the sovereignty of the People in exchange for a bureaucratic leash.

Let’s be clear:

Voting is a sacred civic act. It must be secured. But it must be secured lawfully. That means holding counties, election boards, and state officials accountable, not instituting a national permission system that requires digital compliance to vote.

Immigration must be handled with justice and order. But the answer is not to tag every American with a biometric ID. The answer is to enforce the law against those who break it, and prosecute public officials who grant unlawful access or benefits to foreign nationals. Sovereignty begins at the border, but it must also be preserved within.

National defense is essential. But no external threat ever justified making a free people trackable, scannable, and suspect by default. The moment we treat our own citizens as potential enemies, we’ve already lost what we were trying to protect.

The Rule of Law, that which is fixed and unchanging, binding upon all persons and institutions alike, and superior to the will of men, cannot be broken to solve problems. It is how we solve problems. Any system that demands we violate it for safety is a system that does not understand safety, or liberty.

We do not overcome evil by handing over our freedom. We overcome it by standing in truth, by holding officials accountable to their oath, and by refusing to let fear become our master.

VII. Stand in Truth, Act in Law

The answer to tyranny is not violence. It is not rage. It is not apathy. The answer is truth, spoken boldly, lived fully, and acted upon without fear.

To every man and woman reading these words: you are not powerless. You do not need permission to reclaim your rights. But you do need to know who you are, what your rights are, and how to stand on them. That starts with education. A broad diffusion of knowledge is not optional. It is survival.

But education without action is dead. You must do something with what you learn.

That is why we call on every one of the People to issue lawful notice to government actors who exceed their authority, violate natural rights, or enforce unlawful policies. Notice is not just a formality, it is the law. It is how the People exercise due process, which is the cornerstone of all justice.

The Rule of Law is that which is fixed and unchanging, binding upon all persons and institutions alike, and superior to the will of men.

*This means that the Rule of Law is not based on statutes, regulations, case law, or procedural rules, but on foundational legal principles and constitutional maxims that stand above the whims of legislatures, courts, and government officials